Salazar was suspended for four years by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) in 2019 for "orchestrating and facilitating prohibited doping conduct" as head coach of the Nike Oregon Project (NOP).

The appeal to the CAS was delayed on several occasions because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The CAS has confirmed the appeal has been rejected and ruled Salazar had committed three breaches of the World Anti-Doping Code, including possession of banned substance testosterone.

The CAS ruling noted that none of the anti-doping rule violations "directly affected athletic competition, and that there was no evidence put before the CAS as to any effect on athletes competing at the elite level" within the now-defunct NOP.

It added that the "length of hearings and the allegations made at various stages of those hearings, as well as the way in which the case was conducted by USADA and that the evidence was presented and, in some cases, later abandoned, seemed to be out of proportion and excessive when compared to the severity and consequences of the anti-doping rule violations that have been established".

"However, the panel was satisfied that the rules have been properly applied, and that, on the basis of the anti-doping rule violations found by the CAS Panel, the sanctions have been determined in accordance with the relevant version of the Code," the CAS said.

Since receiving the USADA sanction, Salazar has also received a lifetime ban from the US Center for SafeSport for sexual and emotional misconduct.

The CAS also rejected Jeffrey Brown's appeal against his four-year ban.

Brown, a doctor specialising in endocrinology who worked with Salazar at the NOP, was found by an American Arbitration Association (AAA) panel to have tampered with patient records, been complicit in Salazar’s trafficking of testosterone and administered an L-carnitine infusion which was over the limits laid out in the World Anti-Doping Code.

An AAA panel found Salazar guilty of trafficking testosterone, tampering or attempting to tamper with the doping-control process and administration of an infusion in excess of the allowed limit.

Both were banned until September 29 in 2023.

The charges followed a six-year USADA investigation.

"While I am disappointed that CAS did not reduce my sanction, I am pleased that the decision rejected USADA’s efforts to impose a lifetime ban and assert numerous other violations of the WADA Code," Salazar said in a statement. 

"The decision reaffirmed that no Nike Oregon Project athlete was ever doped, that no competition was impacted by these technical violations, and that I generally took great care to ensure that any new techniques, methods and substances were lawful under the WADA Code."

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has promised to investigate those coached by Salazar, after the International Olympic Committee called on it to look into athletes associated with American.

Britain's four-time Olympic gold medallist Sir Mo Farah, Sifan Hassan of The Netherlands - winner of three medals at Tokyo 2020 - and American Rio 2016 marathon bronze medallist Galen Rupp are among those to have been coached by Salazar at various junctures.

None have been charged with a doping offence and all deny ever using prohibited substances.

Nike has shut down the NOP and recently removed Salazar's name from a building at its Beaverton headquarters in Oregon after the US Center for SafeSport lifetime ban.

Mary Cain, a former NOP athlete, said in a New York Times op-ed that body-shaming from Salazar led her to self-harm and suicidal thoughts, and that the coaching methods used and unhealthy weight demands resulted in her not having menstrual periods and suffering repeated fractures.